This invention relates to a blank for hinged-lid packets for smoking articles and to a method for making such packets.
More specifically, this invention relates to a blank which can be used to make substantially parallelepiped-shaped, hinged-lid packets for containing smoking articles consisting of cigarettes or cigarette packets, and to a method for making such packets.
In this specification, reference is made by way of example, and for simplicity of description, to hinged-lid cigarette packets without thereby limiting the scope of the invention.
The blanks most frequently used to make packets of the above mentioned type are made of paperboard, have their longest dimension running parallel to the vertical edges of the packets concerned and are first folded around respective groups of cigarettes wrapped in metallized paper about a plurality of folding lines perpendicular to their longest dimension. A plurality of flaps and lateral panels of these blanks are then folded about folding lines parallel to the longest dimension in order to complete packet closure. The packets thus obtained have a bottom containing body portion, which houses the cigarettes, and a hinged lid located above the containing body portion for the closing thereof. An example of blanks of this kind is shown in patent U.S. Pat. No. 2,468,543A.
A longitudinal end portion of these blanks normally consists of a reinforcement flap which is folded towards the inside of the lid in order to strengthen it and so that lower front edge of the lid visible to the smoker is defined by a folded paperboard portion and not a cut portion of the blank, considered aesthetically unattractive.
In some types of packing machines which make packets of the type mentioned above, the blanks used have their longest dimension perpendicular to the vertical edges of the packets concerned. The blanks of this kind are first folded around respective groups of cigarettes wrapped in metallized paper about a plurality of folding lines parallel to the vertical edges, and a plurality of lower and upper panels and flaps are then folded about folding lines parallel to the longest dimension in order to complete packet closure. A blank of this kind is illustrated, for example, in patent GB2063811A which protects a packing machine for making packets of the type described.
The packing machines used for handling blanks of this kind are relatively simple compared to those used for making packets from blanks of the first type described above, but the packets obtained do not have the lid reinforcement flap because the shape of the blanks is such that the edges of the lid are geometrically contained within the body of the blanks themselves and there is not enough space in the body of the blanks to make the reinforcement flap.
As a result, the lower front edge of the lid of these packets is not defined by a folded paperboard portion and instead the smoker sees a cut portion of the blank, with a relatively unpleasant visual effect.
Moreover, packets of this kind do not have what is known as the “inner frame” between the respective blanks and the groups of cigarettes wrapped in metallized paper. The inner frame, besides having an important aesthetic function, also keeps the lid well closed when the packet is not being used. The absence of the inner frame thus gives packets of this kind unpleasant aesthetic features and poor functional features.